Liverpool Royal result

The government has announced it will step in to get the Royal Liverpool Hospital built following a delay in construction caused by the collapse of Carillion.

Unite, which along with other health campaigners has maintained pressure on the government to complete the hospital, praised “people power” for the result.

After months of inaction the government has been forced to cancel Carillion’s private finance initiative contract to build the hospital and bail out the £335m project, which includes rectifying major structural issues on the work already completed by Carillion.

‘Belated decision’

Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail, who attended a protest outside of the hospital only yesterday, said, “The belated decision by the government to step in to complete the build of the Royal Liverpool hospital would not have happened without the pressure of unions, Labour politicians and the people of Liverpool.

“The fact that it has taken so long for the government to step in, is in itself a scandal. Not only were they asleep at the wheel when Carillion collapsed, their slumbering inaction meant months of delays and uncertainty while building work on the Royal Liverpool hospital stood still.”

Priority

Cartmail said the priority is now to finish construction on the new hospital and to ensure that is “owned by the public the hospital will serve”.

She added, “Given the problems associated with the hospital project, the people of Liverpool need to be reassured that the hospital will be safe and structurally sound, to begin doing that we need the Trust to publish the structural survey detailing the defects on the hospital.

“The Trust also needs to ensure that when a new contractor is appointed they ensure that workers are directly employed, that unions are recognised and given access and that any form of blacklisting is absolutely outlawed.”